In Heal Your Life: 25 Ways to Unleash Your Innate Healing Powers by Finding Your Purpose and Connecting with a Higher Power, Carolle Jean-Murat shows how the belief in a higher power – however one defines it – influences our physical and mental well-being and gives us the hope and ability to restore ourselves to health. By using scientific and medical knowledge, intuition, and a spiritual or faith-based approach, Dr. Carolle explains how she aids people in healing their childhood traumas, adult diseases, and unhappiness.

The beginning of Jean-Murat’s book is a compelling story about the author’s difficult childhood growing up in Haiti in the 1950’s and sixties. She summarizes her rape at a young age, her loss of faith, her medical and scientific pursuits as an adult and the subsequent disillusionment of Western medicine and its practices, and her eventual reaffirming of a belief in God. The rest of the book contains twenty-five short, informative chapters on how to heal mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually with a “True Healing Action Plan” section. Some topics include: finding your life purpose, dealing with abuse, listening to our intuition, learning to live in the moment, practicing forgiveness and gratitude, the power of friendship, being part of a religious or spiritual community, the benefits of a hobby, or how to handle stress, for example. These chapters are very short but dense with inspirational, life-healing advice. Jean-Murat concludes her book by reiterating that all human beings are on a spiritual journey and to trust that life is always working for us no matter what is happening.

I recommend Heal Your Life: 25 Ways to Unleash Your Innate Healing Powers by Finding Your Purpose and Connecting with a Higher Power by Carolle Jean-Murat to those interested in seeking an alternative way of healing other than typical Western medicine, which generally does not treat the whole person. Dr. Carolle (as she prefers to be addressed) thoroughly explains the importance of evaluating and treating the physical, emotional, and mental components of the person with incorporating spirituality or faith. I found her childhood anecdote and subsequent life-story very inspiring. I also learned about the culture of Haiti, which was an unexpected bonus!

A bit about the author, Carolle Jean-Murat, MD:

Born and raised within a family of healers and trained in the best universities around the world, Dr. Carolle is a board-certified gynecologist with over four decades of experience. She is a gifted intuitive and spiritual healer. As an international motivational speaker, Dr. Carolle brings her message of self-empowerment and faith through her award-winning books, telephone consultations, private retreats, workshops, blog, and podcast. She is also founder of Dr. Carolle’s Wellness and Retreat Center of San Diego, a place where women spend time with her to discover the root causes of their diseases, which she believes are usually hidden (or unresolved) emotions. Dr. Carolle also provides free intuitive gynecological and primary care to the people of Haiti through Catholic Charities, and more. This amazing woman is also the creator of the non-profit organization Health Through Communications Foundation and its Angels For Haiti Project that provide education, health-care, and hope for the future. And lastly, Dr. Carolle is Chief Medical Director of Health Education Advocacy Leadership Community Health Promotion Center (HCHPC) HEAL, a new and innovative approach to healthcare.

To learn more about Dr. Carolle Jean-Murat or to purchase her book, Heal Your Life: 25 Ways to Unleash Your Innate Healing Powers by Finding Your Purpose and Connecting with a Higher Power, visit: drcarolle.com.

As a tribute to the late Louise Hay (Oct 8, 1926-Aug 30, 2017), I’ve decided to review one of her many books, Heart Thoughts: A Treasury of Inner Wisdom, in hopes of motivating you to improve your thinking.

Louise Hay’s Heart Thoughts: A Treasury of Inner Wisdom is a book of inspirational “affirmations” to help us live healthier and happier lives. Affirmations are conscious or unconscious statements of truth we believe about ourselves. These “truth” statements create our moments, our days, and our lives, so it is important to look within and analyze what we believe. In addition to affirmations, Louise uses meditations, spiritual treatments, and advice to help us improve or change our thinking. She divides her book by themes such as relationships, self-love, money, career, wisdom, and health, for example. You can pick up the book and start reading Hay’s wisdom at any chapter and find incredible insights. It is a good book to have on your nightstand for daily or nightly encouragement.

I know some people might find affirmations a bit silly and useless (I know I did when I had first heard of them!), but I encourage you to give them a try. After reading Louise’s book, I decided to try them myself. I discovered that telling myself something new and positive did, in fact, change the course of my day and lifted my spirits. As a person who has recovered from a very negative and difficult childhood, Louise Hay’s affirmations have helped me to see myself differently and change some destructive, long-held, subconscious beliefs. Incorporating Hay’s affirmations literally was a life-changer for me!

I highly recommend Heart Thoughts: A Treasury of Inner Wisdom by Louise Hay to anyone who seems to be stuck in negative thinking patterns, those who do not love or accept themselves, or anyone who is seeking more joy in their lives.

A bit about the author, Louise Hay:

Louise Hay was an internationally renowned lecturer, metaphysical teacher and best-selling author of many books, including Heal Your Body from A to Z and Empowering Women. Her books have been translated into twenty nine languages in thirty five countries throughout the world. Since the beginning of her career as a Science of Mind minister in 1981, she has assisted millions of people in discovering the full potential of their own creative power to heal and transform. Louise Hay was also the founder of Hay House Inc., a self-publishing company that distributes books, audios and videos that contribute to personal healing and the healing of our planet. She passed away on Aug 30, 2017, at the age of ninety.

To learn more about Louise Hay or to purchase Heart Thoughts: A Treasury of Inner Wisdom, visit her website, LouiseHay.com.

What do you say about a woman whose books saved your life? There are no words but a heart full of gratitude and awe.

There are few people who cross our paths and truly inspire us so profoundly that we are never the same again. These people are sometimes one in a million, and when they appear in our lives, we never forget them. For me, one of those people was Louise Hay, who passed away in her sleep at the age of ninety yesterday, August 30, 2017.

Interestingly, yesterday morning I was writing a book review on one of Louise’s many life-changing books, You Can Heal Your Life. After publishing the blog, I immediately discovered she had passed away at the same time that I was writing about her. I almost fell off my chair!

This morning, I decided to plant a special rose bush in my backyard in memory of Louise, who loved to spend time in her jaw-dropping garden in San Diego, California. It is how I choose to mourn the loss of such a beautiful person and my way of remembering her.

Dear Louise, if you can hear me somehow (I hope you can, but no one really knows),

This rose bush I planted today is for you. It is a reminder every time I see it grow and flourish with gorgeous roses in my garden of how you saved my life with your wisdom, your kindness, your gentleness, and your inspiring words. Thank you for writing your books! You have helped millions improve their lives. To say that the world is a better place because you were part of it is such an understatement. Thank you, Louise Hay, for having the courage to rise above what happened to you, to become an inspirational teacher, a friend to so many, and a leader for all people. Please know that I have named my rose bush “Louise” to remind me of you and your inner beauty, strength, growth, courage, and gentleness. Love you always. Rest in peace, wise soul.

To learn about Louise Hay and how she changed the world, visit HayHouse.com.

In her ninety years young, Louise Hay has transformed millions of lives with her simple message: “What you think and what you believe is what will come true for you. Your thoughts create your life.”

She is absolutely correct!

You Can Heal Your Life by powerhouse teacher and lecturer, Louise Hay, is a profound eye-opener and one of my favorite books of all-time because it is a life changer! Louise explains thoroughly how every thought that we think in the present creates our future.She discusses how guilt, criticism and resentment are very damaging patterns that cause a state of disease in our bodies and how releasing these patterns will heal us. She tells the story of her fight with cancer and how she healed herself without conventional medicine (including chemotherapy or radiation) but instead used alternative healing methods, incorporated new beliefs and released anger and resentment from a horrific childhood.

Although I do not agree with some of Louise Hay’s conclusions, I do believe without a doubt that we are what we think, or in other words, what we think in the present does create our future. I have lived it: Having been ignorant of how the mind works in the past, I created a difficult life; however, when I worked to eliminate the untrue beliefs and thoughts I had for years and replaced them with the truth, I created and lived a beautiful life. Having recently read You Can Heal Your Life and after incorporating Louise’s suggestions, I have seen positive changes in myself and in my life, once again! The most important lesson that Louise teaches is how to accept and love ourselves wholly.

I highly recommend You Can Heal Your Life by pioneer Louise Hay for anyone who is struggling with understanding why your life never improves or for anyone interested in holistic health,metaphysics, or living an authentic, beautiful life. Her suggestions do work and they will change your life!

A bit about the author, Louise Hay:

Louise Hay is an internationally renowned lecturer, metaphysical teacher and best-selling author of many books, including Heal Your Body from A to Z and Empowering Women. Her books have been translated into twenty nine languages in thirty five countries throughout the world. Since the beginning of her career as a Science of Mind minister in 1981, she has assisted millions of people in discovering the full potential of their own creative power to heal and transform. Louise Hay is also the founder of Hay House Inc., a self-publishing company that distributes books, audios and videos that contribute to personal healing and the healing of our planet.

To learn more about Louise Hay or to purchase You Can Heal Your Life, visit her websites, LouiseHay.com and HealYourLife.com.

For many years, I believed meditation was only for people in India, those who were more spiritual or those who have nothing to do with their lives. As embarrassing as this is to admit, I now know better! I found Paul Wilson’s Finding Quiet: Four Simple Steps to Peace and Contentment-Without Spending the Rest of Your Life on a Mountaintopvery helpful and extremely inspiring. I am not a meditation expert by any stretch of the word; however, after reading this book, I feel that I have the tools and knowledge not only to begin with confidence, but also to continue without ceasing.

Paul Wilson divides Finding Quiet into two sections – the first is for beginners of meditation and the second for experienced meditators who want to go deeper. I was especially thankful for the structure of this book because as a product of a western, go-getter and always-busy culture, I was a bit intimidated when I stumbled up on this reading. However, after immersing myself in this book, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that meditation is not difficult and is essential for our ultimate health, happiness and well-being.

Within Finding Quiet, you will discover what Wilson calls the “underlying quiet” and how to find it and experience it. He unveils why meditation is essential, (especially if you feel that you do not have time to meditate) and clearly demonstrates what meditation is as well as what he believes are the most important, three quiet practices: deep, directed and aware. The author explains how meditation enhances peace of mind, clarity of thought, emotional stability, creativity, general calm and physical well-being. I am excited about incorporating meditation into my life!

Paul Wilson is known around the world as “The Guru of Calm.” He has taught meditation for almost thirty years, is a businessman, lecturer and renowned author of two novels and nineteen self-help books. Wilson began his meditation training in the Buddhist and Yoga traditions, experimented with Transcendental Meditation in London in the late 1960s, then synthesized what he learned from these and other meditation traditions and created a simple, secular meditation approach which he coined “The Calm Technique.” His meditation methods are taught and practiced throughout Europe, Asia, and Australia. Learn about Paul’s mission to spread peace and quiet.

To learn more about Paul Wilson or to purchase Finding Quiet: Four Simple Steps to Peace and Contentment-Without Spending the Rest of Your Life on a Mountaintop, visit: calmcentre.com.

“The first recognition of beauty was one of the most significant events in the evolution of human consciousness.” – Eckhart Tolle

After stepping out of my reading comfort zone and immersing myself in New York Times best-selling author, Eckhart Tolle’s, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, I was pleasantly surprised to put it mildly. The book pretty much left me speechless. I have to admit that when I first picked up this piece of writing, I was very skeptical. I believed that it was something that I could not relate to or have the patience to read because, although I am very spiritual, I am also very analytical, and I believed that a book like this from a spiritual healer like Eckhart Tolle would be something I would find without substantial substance. I was wrong.

Tolle, in A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, thoroughly and convincingly explains how our current ego-based state of consciousness functions and how it contributes to pain, misery and violence in the world. He demonstrates how to live in pure joy in the present moment, and illustrates how most people live in the past or the future, thus missing out on true life now. He shows how thought and emotion can be hindrances to true joy and happiness. Tolle describes addiction (all known forms in addition to others he believes are problematic) and how most of us are living in reaction to life and not in response to life. He then covers how to break free from this behavior; he reveals how we are pure consciousness, how to live in pure truth and what the “new earth” is about. This book is well written, intriguing, illuminating, uplifting, very rich, easy to read, and is one of those books you cannot only read ONCE. It is a life-changer and a must read!

I highly recommend A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle to anyone who is looking for an answer to life’s BIG questions: Why are we here? What is our purpose? Where did we come from? What are we made of? Although not exclusive, Tolle’s book attempts to answer all of these questions with very thought-provoking answers.

A bit about the author, Eckhart Tolle:

Eckhart is a spiritual teacher and author who was born in Germany and educated at the Universities of London and Cambridge. At the age of twenty nine, a profound inner transformation radically changed the course of his life. The next few years were devoted to understanding, integrating and deepening that transformation, which marked the beginning of an intense inward journey. Later, he began to work in London with individuals and small groups as a counselor and spiritual teacher. Eckhart Tolle is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Power of Now, and is also author of Stillness Speaks and other books. He lives in Vancouver, Canada, when he is not traveling sharing his message of profound truth and hope. To learn more about Eckhart, visit: EckhartTolle.com.

To purchase A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle, visit: EckhartTolleTV.com.

Happiness – “It is our natural state,” says, Richard Carlson, Ph.D. But, if so, then why are many of us far from “happy?”

Dr. Richard Carlson’s book, You can be Happy No Matter What: Five Principles for Keeping Life in Perspective, explains exactly how to be in a state of happiness and demonstrates why we
usually are not thriving with abundant joy. The author breaks the book down into two sections. Part one explains the principles behind true happiness such as thought, mood, separate realities, feelings and the present moment. In part two of this book, the author explains how to apply these principles in our relationships, stressful situations, in solving our problems, in addictions and more. Even though I have learned that my happiness is always my choice, Richard Carlson’s book explained to me how my thoughts and consequent feelings have a huge impact on my happiness every moment.

You can be Happy No Matter What: Five Principles for Keeping Life in Perspectiveby Richard Carlson is a pleasant and easy read; the material presented is very practical and solid with real-life advice. Dr. Carlson even includes a “Checklist for your Life” at the end of the book to help identify what is keeping us from truly thriving in abundant happiness. I recommend this book for anyone who might be wondering why happiness seems to be illusive or for anyone seeking simple solutions to improve the joy in their lives.

A bit about the author, Richard Carlson, Ph.D.:

Dr. Richard Carlson is considered one of the world’s leading experts on happiness and stress reduction. He is the author of thirty popular books including Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff and was a psychotherapist and speaker. Dr. Carlson was a great television and radio personality, appearing on The Oprah Show, Good Morning America, The Today Show and The View. He died in 2006.